A Georgian chant quartet performs at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 7, at St. Mary Cathedral, Northwest 17th and Davis in Portland. The BBC has called the harmonizing male group from the Church of St. Panteleimon "the best choir in Tbilisi."

The professional all-male quartet makes its only West Coast performance in Portland on a 2011 US tour, singing ancient Georgian Orthodox chants in polyphony, plus traditional Georgian folk melodies, yodels and table songs.

The first half of the concert will feature hymns — sung for the Georgian Orthodox liturgical services — that were maintained as an oral tradition from the middle ages until the end of 19th century. The second half will comprise folk songs touching many aspects of traditional life in Georgia: celebrations, working, mourning, war, love, hunting, friendship and even a song for wrestling.

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